JICA offers development assistance worth Rs25,847 crores to India
2 min read . Updated: 29 Mar 2023, 08:21 PM IST
PremiumOne of the four projects is the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project, which gets the biggest loan yet by JICA of 300 billion Japanese yen, the development finance agency said
NEW DELHI : The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said on Wednesday it has signed four official development assistance loan agreements for infrastructure, climate change response and livelihood improvement projects in India, one of them being the single largest project in its history.
One of the four projects is the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project, which gets the biggest loan yet by JICA of 300 billion Japanese Yen, or approximately ₹18,750 crore, the development finance agency said. The other projects are Patna Metro Rail Construction Project, Rajasthan Water Sector Livelihood Improvement Project and a project in West Bengal for biodiversity conservation.
For Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) project, JICA signed a loan agreement with the Central government to offer official development assistance as the fourth tranche.
It is the largest amount committed through a single project loan agreement in the history of JICA, across the globe, JICA said in the statement, adding that the project will transform inter-city mobility between Maharashtra and Gujarat with Japan's technology.
The loan agreement was signed between Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and Saito Mitsunori, Chief Representative of JICA India.
JICA has been supporting the project by providing development assistance loans with the cumulative commitment amount of JPY 650 billion ( ₹ 40,625 crore) since 2017 and by providing technical assistance including feasibility study, basic and detailed design, trainings in Japan, station area development technical cooperation project, and dispatch of Japanese experts to the executing agency, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), the statement said.
The project seeks to develop a high-frequency mass transportation system by constructing the High-Speed Rail between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, using Japan's Shinkansen technology (also known as the "bullet train"), thereby enhancing mobility in India and contributing to regional economic development, the statement said.
“The MAHSR project, by introducing Japan's High Speed Rail technology to India's first High Speed Rail project is a symbol of the Japan-India collaboration," the statement said quoting Mitsunori.
JICA also extended development assistance loan of ₹ 5521 crore for the Patna Metro Rail Construction Project (I). It also extended ₹1056 crore for a project in Rajasthan and ₹520 crore for a project in West Bengal.